St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s inaugural Geography Bee challenged students’ knowledge of U.S. and world geography, with two upper division teams facing off in an exciting quiz show-style format.
“Our goal was to create a fun and engaging celebration of the geographical, cultural, and historical richness and diversity of our world,” said Duane Bailey-Castro, who teaches social studies and global studies and organized the bee, along with Artemas Wang, his social studies colleague. “Cultivating their interest in geography will help shape our students as 21st century global citizens.”
Two students from each upper division grade represented their homerooms at the bee. They comprised Team Ptolemy, after the Roman geographer and mathematician, and Team al-Idrisi, after the Muslim Arab geographer and cartographer who drew one of the most advanced maps of the known medieval world.
The teams were tasked with identifying state capitals; naming a state based a simple image of the map; answering questions related to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) heritage sites; identifying international flags; and otherwise testing their knowledge of national and international borders.